A music video, an interview, a podcast, the recording of a meeting... there is a lot of audio content that we need to convert to text on occasion. It is what is known as transcription. This favors access to the content and its subsequent use. That is why it is so interesting to know how to convert audio to text in word.
Why Word? Well, because it is one of the most popular and used word processors in the world. Furthermore, many of its users are still unaware that it has a integrated transcription function. It must be said, however, that this service is free for Microsoft 365 Premium subscribers. The possibility of dictating a file in real time and converting it into a text document.
In this post we will see how to record and convert audio to text in real time and also how to do it with previous recordings. We will analyze the main editing options, as well as solutions to the most common problems.
Convert audio to text in Word in real time
Microsoft's dictation function is very easy to use and offers quite good results. This is what we must do to convert voice in real time to text and translate it into a document:
- First of all, we must log in to Word online with our Microsoft 365 account.
- Then we will Home and we click on the menu Dictation.
- In the menu that appears, select the option Transcribe.
- Once there, we choose the option Start recording.
- Next it is necessary to give permission to the browser to use the microphone* and start recording.
- At finish recording, you have to click on the microphone again.
That's all. Once the recording is finished, we can save it to OneDrive or any other folder on our PC. Please note that this service has some limitations, since It only allows you to transcribe 300 minutes of voice recording per month.
(*) The method to give permissions may be different depending on our browser.
Transcribe already recorded audio
Apart from the option to record and convert audio to text in Word in real time, it is also possible to upload an audio file and convert it to text in Word. This is what we should do:
- As in the previous case, the first thing is to log in to Word online with our Microsoft 365 account.
- Then we will Home and we click on the menu Dictation.
- In the drop-down menu, we select the option Transcribe.
- Now you have to use the button Upload Audio. After a few minutes (the process may take more or less depending on the file size and Internet connection speed) the transcript will appear on the panel.
As in the case of real-time transcriptions, there are also some restrictions for this option. The most important is the maximum limit of 5 hours of transcription per month. Another limitation is that It only supports the following file formats: .wav, .mp4, .mp3 and .m4a.
Editing options
Once the transcription has been made, it remains saved with the document and we can access it whenever we want to make corrections or edits. These are some of the most interesting options:
Retag a speaker
The Word transcription service identifies the different speakers in a recorded conversation, assigning them the label “Speaker 1”, “Speaker 2”, etc. This tag can be edited to give a specific name to each speaker:
- On the panel Transcribe, we passed the cursor on the text we want to change.
- We select the icon Edit transcript.
- We change the label text and click Confirm.
Correct text
Although the transcriber works very well, sometimes errors can occur, especially when we have captured the conversation of a file with poor sound quality. Correcting them is relatively easy.
- In the Transcribe panel, we hover over the text to correct.
- We select the icon Edit transcript.
- We correct the text and click Confirm.
Tips to Ensure Quality Transcriptions
If you have already tried this function of converting audio to text in Word and you have encountered terrible results or errors, perhaps it is because we have not paid attention to certain aspects. We mention them here:
- Language setting: If the default option is, for example, "English" and we proceed to transcribe an audio in Spanish, the result will logically be disastrous. The solution to this problem is simply to change the language settings on our PC and in the program.
- browser update. There are many other errors that can also be avoided by simply keeping our browser correctly updated. Something everyone knows how to do (and should do on a regular basis).
- Disable extensions. Certain Word programming may block the “Transcribe” feature, such as ad blockers and other privacy extensions. So it is best to disable them.